Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 84,001 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,148,077 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 84,001 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.10% of Flowers Foods worth $453,533,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of FLO. Gladius Capital Management LP grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 46.4% in the 3rd quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP now owns 1,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 83,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,876,000 after purchasing an additional 810 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 28,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $629,000 after purchasing an additional 813 shares during the period. Imprint Wealth LLC grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 14,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 818 shares during the period. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Flowers Foods by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 9,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $212,000 after purchasing an additional 1,077 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Flowers Foods news, Director Edward J. Jr. Casey purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $23.55 per share, with a total value of $117,750.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 20,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $478,771.50. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 11.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Flowers Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 25th. DA Davidson upped their price target on Flowers Foods from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Flowers Foods from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.00.

Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of FLO opened at $22.49 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.80 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.11. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 52-week low of $19.64 and a 52-week high of $26.33.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 18.35% and a net margin of 2.45%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 6th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is a boost from Flowers Foods’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.27%. Flowers Foods’s dividend payout ratio is 162.71%.

Flowers Foods Company Profile

Flowers Foods, Inc produces and markets packaged bakery food products in the United States. Its principal products include fresh breads, buns, rolls, snack items, bagels, English muffins, and tortillas, as well as frozen breads and rolls under the Nature's Own, Dave's Killer Bread, Wonder, Canyon Bakehouse, Mrs.